There are plenty (no really, plenty) of options when it comes to parsing JSON into model objects on iOS. We'll be taking a look at some of them from time to time over the coming weeks. First up is ObjectMapper by Hearst. Let's take a look how it works with a fictional set of types:

With ObjectMapper, we implement the Mappable protocol on our types to support converting to and from JSON:

struct Spaceship: Mappable {
  var captain: User?
  var topSpeed: Double?

  init?(_ map: Map) { }

  mutating func mapping(map: Map) {
    captain  <- map["captain"]
    topSpeed <- map["topSpeed"]
  }
}

struct User: Mappable {
  var name: String?
  var rank: Int?

  init?(_ map: Map) { }

  mutating func mapping(map: Map) {
    name <- map["name"]
    rank  <- map["rank"]
  }
}

Then we can convert from JSON to one of these structs like this:

let ship = Mapper<Spaceship>().map(JSONString)

And go the other way (from a struct back to JSON) like this:

let JSONString = Mapper().toJSONString(ship, prettyPrint: true)

ObjectMapper can easily handle nested objects, here on our Spaceship model, we've got an optional User property for the captain of the ship.

It also supports subclasses and custom transforms when serializing/deserializing properties. One of the best things about ObjectMapper are the extensions available for other great iOS libraries like Alamofire and Realm (covered in Bite #49). Here's AlamofireObjectMapper in action:

Alamofire.request(.GET, "https://api.jeditemple.com/ships/31", parameters: nil)
  .responseObject { (response: Spaceship?, error: ErrorType?) in
    print(response?.topSpeed)
  }

ObjectMapper stands out in the simplicity of it's API and the ease at which we can jump in and start using it.

More info about ObjectMapper can be found at git.io/objectmapper